I had been due to wake up earlier today than I actually managed. A friend, with whom I'd watched a movie the previous night, was supposed to ring me up and motivate me to get myself out of bed. She forgot.

However, I remembered in the end and set about the task of getting the car I own, as opposed to the company car that I drive, to the garage where it could be MOTed so I can tax it.

This proved to be something of a big challenge. I knew, the moment I turned the key in the door and only the driver's door unlocked, that I had a problem. The central locking not working meant that the battery was flat, which, in turn, meant that I'd have to somehow get the car moved alone. To complicate matters further, there was a car blocking most of my garage front, which wouldn't be a problem to maneuvre around if I had a self-propelling vehicle to use, but was going to be problematic if I had to push the vehicle using my own power, up and down the incline between garage and road.

In the end, though, that's exactly what I had to do. Luckily my jump leads were long enough and forgiving enough to enable me to get the two cars connected from the awkward corner I got my own car - at this stage, just a glorified trolley - into.

With the cars linked, I turned the key in the ignition, hoping to get a nice startup. My car had been in the garage since about the 20th September and hadn't been started at all. It would appear that 3 months dormant is a bit too much for it. It had been happy after 3 weeks of being dormant and was a reliable starter when I got it going in Edinburgh, ready for the exit from the city and my meeting with post-Edinburgh destiny. However, in this instance, the car wasn't playing. It coughed, it choked, it didn't want to come to life.

However, patience and revving the car with the working battery (to ensure I didn't end up with two dead cars) was a virtue. Eventually, my Mazda sputtered into life and became a vehicle again, rather than an immobile mini scrap yard.

With my bike in the back and the other car locked and left, I drove to the garage I use. I dumped the car with them and cycled into town. My mission was complete. All I had to do next was a bit of Christmas shopping and get a nice coffee.

Easy.

Then it was time for the big Tesco shop.

Easy.

Back home for the unpacking, some tiling, and then...

Well, with a cheer in my heart that I wasn't expecting, I unpacked all of my kitchen things, washed them all, dried them all off, and put them in cupboards. I even ran some descaling solution through my coffee maker and tried to wash it out completely. In short, I set myself up with a working kitchen. I was thrilled. I received a phone call during the process and my caller could hear how cheered I was by what I'd been up to.

My tiling, aside from the grouting, is now complete. The kitchen still needs a fair bit of painting, but it's essentially reached the turning point where it can be used.

I did some tidying/sorting/sweeping in my main room, and then I was done for the day. I had my sister visiting the following day and so I couldn't have the place in too much disarray.

With Crisis Open Christmas starting on the 23rd, this was, effectively, my last day to sort myself out in. I enjoyed it.